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Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Somalia embassy in Kenya 'sold illegally'

Somalia embassy in Kenya 'sold illegally'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11941396

A court in Kenya has ruled that a former Somali embassy building, sold off after the collapse of the Somali government, was illegally sold.A former Somali ambassador to Kenya is alleged to have sold the property to a Kenyan businessman in 1994.

Shortly after the ruling, the ambassador appointed by the UN-backed administration, Mohamad Ali Noor, led a march to the embassy to reclaim it.Somalia has been without an effective national government since 1991.The man who bought the embassy says he will appeal against the ruling.

It follows a five-year legal battle for the property in Nairobi's upmarket Westlands suburb which is valued at $200,000 (£130,000) .Mr Noor told the BBC that the property had been unoccupied for 15 years."It is uninhabitable, so we have to renovate [it]. Then we will move in," he said.

The UN-backed government controls about half the capital, Mogadishu.It is battling the Islamist militia, al-Shabab, which has links to al-Qaeda.